- Modular laptop vendor Framework said it will launch a RISC-V product in 2025
- RISC-V is the equivalent of Linux for hardware, open source and free
- More tech companies are adopting but it has yet to hit mainstream in a meaningful way
RISC-V, an open source ISA developed at the University of California, Berkeley in 2010, has steadily been gaining attention as a customizable alternative to proprietary ISAs like x86 and Arm.
Its license-free approach allows manufacturers to create and modify processors without restrictions, leading to adoption in various specialized applications, and this year could mark a key step toward broader consumer adoption of the architecture.
For RISC-V to truly reach the mainstream, it still needs to gain traction in the laptop market. Hong Kong–based DeepComputing introduced the first RISC-V notebook, the Roma, in 2023, followed by the DC-Roma II in 2024, which shipped with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed. While praised for its open-source flexibility, the laptop’s performance lagged behind x86 and Arm alternatives – but speaking to IEEE Spectrum, DeepComputing CEO Yuning Liang said the company’s upcoming DC-Roma III will close that gap with performance comparable to the Arm Cortex-A76.
Enter Framework
Perhaps even more excitingly, DeepComputing is collaborating with Framework, a company known for its modular, repairable laptops, to create a RISC-V motherboard for the Framework Laptop 13. Nirav Patel, CEO of Framework, said, “If we look at a couple of generations down the [software] stack, we’re starting to see a line of sight to consumer-ready RISC-V in something like a laptop, or even a phone.”
According to IEEE Spectrum, “Though still intended for early adopters and developers, it will be the most accessible and polished RISC-V laptop yet, and it will ship to users with the same look and feel as the Framework laptops that use x86 chips.”
Following the initial announcement in June 2024, Framework launched a product page for the RISC-V motherboard, but it remains a placeholder.
DeepComputing’s site however, reveals more details, including images of the DC-Roma RISC-V Mainboard for the Framework 13 Laptop, one of which you can see at the top of the page. The board is powered by the RISC-V 64-bit quad-core CPU JH7110, and supports both Ubuntu Desktop 24.04 and Fedora 41.
RISC-V has already been embraced by a number of tech companies. Western Digital uses it for storage controllers, British startup Blueshift Memory‘s BlueFive processor is built on an open-source RISC-V core, the Chinese XiangShan project has developed two RISC-V designs, and Ubitium has a universal RISC-V processor that consolidates all computing workloads onto a single, affordable chip.
We will likely see more details about Framework’s RISC-V Laptop 13 in the coming months, but given the current focus on developers and early adopters, along with performance limitations compared to established architectures like x86 and Arm, it seems fair to say that while this is unquestionably a huge step forward for the architecture, RISC-V isn’t ready for mainstream consumer adoption quite yet.
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waynewilliams@onmail.com (Wayne Williams)
